Peter Nurse 

Investor.com: European stock markets will open lower on Thursday due to investor concerns about the spreading of the omicron Covid mutation and associated economic damages.

The contract in Germany was 0.7% less at 2AM ET (0700 GMT), while the one in France fell 0.9%, and that in the United Kingdom dropped 0.7%.

While concerns regarding the Covid variant, as well as the Federal Reserve suggesting an early withdrawal from its accommodative Monetary Policy, Wednesday saw the European major indices recover.

But, things quickly became negative after the United States was named Wednesday as the country that identified the case. 

The World Health Organisation stated that at least 23 countries from five of six regions have reported cases of omicron, “and we expect that number to grow.” 

Although the UN agency anticipates having more information about the transmission of this new coronavirus variant within the next few days, it noted that South Africa is seeing an increase in hospitalizations and that omicron is quickly becoming the predominant variant.

In corporate news, Swiss drugmaker Novartis (SIX:) said earlier Thursday that it’s confident of growing sales by 4% each year until 2026, as it had up to 20 products in its approval pipeline that had the potential to generate at least $1 billion in sales.

Tomorrow’s economic data release includes Eurozone and October statistics.

Crude oil prices rose on Thursday after recovering from three-months highs during the previous session. Traders adjusted their positions in advance of the OPEC+ meeting, which will decide the future output levels. 

There is growing concern that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its allies (a group called OPEC+), will halt plans for adding 400,000 barrels of oil per day to supply January.

Following the news of the Covid-19 outbreak in America, Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk stated that the U.S. may adjust its timing for releasing strategic crude oil stocks if energy prices drop significantly.

Capturing the gains was news about a smaller-than-expected draw on inventories of 910,000 barrels last week.

U.S. crude futures rose 1.3% at $66.45/barrel, and the contract rose 1.3% up to $69.78 by 02:01 ET.

The price rose 0.3% to $1778.90/oz while the market was largely unchanged at 1.1322.